Those with lower extremity disabilities often have difficulty moving from one location to another. Often times these people are confined to a wheelchair and require assistance to transfer between a bed, tub, or commode to a wheelchair or similar device.
Presently, assistance in transferring patients can be provided by transfer boards, which are generally solid, smooth, rectangular-shaped, plywood boards, approximately 8 inches wide and 24 to 30 inches long. To move a patient from a bed to a wheelchair, for example, one end of the rectangular transfer board is placed under the patient sitting on the edge of the bed, and the other end of the board is placed on the wheelchair seat. Generally with the assistance of at least one person, the patient slides across the board from the bed toward the wheelchair. The patient then sits on the corner of the wheelchair seat, and makes a half turn, backwards into the wheelchair, as the transfer board is removed.
This operation usually requires considerable strength and effort by the patient. If the patient lacks the required strength, as in the case of a disabled person or some senior citizens, more than one person may be needed to help slide the patient across the transfer board. But, this becomes a problem when the only assistance available is from someone who also is disabled, or more commonly, a senior citizen.
It therefore is an object of the present invention to greatly reduce the amount of assistance required in transferring a patient or invalid between proximate locations. It is further an object of the present invention to reduce the amount of turning the patient must endure in transferring between these locations. These and other objectives are accomplished by the sliding transfer device described.